Samsung Drops Android From Wearable OS

SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung's decision to drop Android in its latest wearables could have effects that ripple out to future smart watches and fit bands, according to analysts.

Samsung unveiled three new wearables -- the Gear and Gear Neo smart watches, and the Gear Fit fitness band -- at Mobile World Conference in Barcelona this week. Unlike its previous generation smart watch, this year's products will not run the Android operating system. The Fit will use a real-time operating system while Gear and Gear Neo will operate on the Tizen OS, a Linux-based system Samsung, Intel, and others launched in 2011 as an alternative to Android.

Samsung Gear and Gear Fit smart watches. (Source: Samsung)

"Originally, Samsung was talking about announcing a Tizen phone, which would have some serious effect on the market," Gartner vice president Martin Reynolds told EE Times. "But it's so established in that device that this isn't a business it can risk. Wearables are a reasonable place to put Tizen; they can do some optimizing in the OS for smaller devices."

Tizen is a Linux-based cousin of Android and has some distinct advantages as a simpler OS, including longer battery life. Additionally, wearables often have a set range of functions, and the OS doesn't need to manage as many complex applications. Reynolds added that developers won't find it difficult to write for Tizen, and Samsung said it would open its Gear SDK to developers.

Samsung will not release its real-time OS to developers. The operating system is so basic that there is no allowance for an app ecosystem anyway. Instead, CNET reported, Samsung will have to customize Fit apps in-house or work closely with developers to release apps.

"What Samsung has done is exactly right. RTOS will remain 'exotic' and rare to all but the most determined initial developers beyond Samsung. If all goes well, some Android apps will be ported to Tizen and eventually their essential elements to RTOS," Richard Doherty, director of consulting firm Envisioneering Group, told EE Times. "It's really in the hands of third-party developers in terms of what happens between now and the next trade show."

Over the next couple years, Doherty expects to see an increasing amount of code translator tools that will allow developers to build for Samsung Android, Tizen and Samsung RTOS devices, as well as one code source for non-Samsung Tizen devices. Success for the new OSs will be based in part on the time it takes to develop applications for them. If Samsung's new products get traction they could attract other wearables to adopt the OSs.

"We may see a tremendous shift in resources over the next few months and developers eager to make more money than they're making at Android right now may be walking away from Android to concentrate on Tizen," Doherty said. On the other hand, "They may find out that the barrier to entry is so high that only Samsung can do apps," he said.

While Doherty said it's too early to determine which operating system will likely dominate the wearable market, Reynolds puts less weight on the subject entirely.

"I think Samsung is making the point that they have something other than Android... I don't think there's any particular breakthrough or shifts here," Reynolds said. "When it comes to wearables it doesn't matter that much what the OS is, because we're not expecting broad range of applications on the device. It's the overall system integration that matters."

Increasing wearables will require more sophisticated chips, the analysts said. Samsung has already developed custom processors with high power and low battery life. With increased processing power, Doherty said, the next generation of Samsung wearables won't be subject to the same criticism of the first generation Gear.

"The original Galaxy Gear depended almost totally on a mobile phone for its intelligence; sort of a mother ship and motor launch," he said. "The next generation will put more intelligence into devices and some may never need to talk to a phone. We'll see more and more where [wearables] have just enough intelligence, processor, and speed for their job."

Also, Samsung is taking strategy decision to not bet on single horse in long run.

@Wilber, I totally agree with your opinion. I think this is the right strategy to adopt different OS rather than concentrating only on one OS. This move will give comfort to the developers who are working actively in developing the OS.

Jack wrote: A smartphone is one of those things that you think you don't need, but once you have one you wouldn't be without it.

You could say the same thing about heroin.

Personally, I'm happiest when free of the myriad distractions offered by a smart phone. Like Cyrano de Bergerac, if I have a difficult problem to ponder I like to take a walk in the woods -- or the hills or by the shoreline -- free of all electronic devices. I do bring pen and paper to capture ideas.

If other people want smart phones, that's their choice. But as for me, I'm with Mr. Knightley from Emma: "If the Westons think it worth while to be at all this trouble for a few hours of noisy entertainment I have nothing to say against it, but that they shall not choose pleasures for me."

Ditto. The only time I do not have access to a real computer is when I am driving my car. I have no desire to app and drive at the same time.

Really? You take your laptop with when someone else is driving? Waiting for takeaway food? On a walk in the country? To the beach? On vacation? You'd have it with you if you were waiting at the doctors/hospital/dentist? Waiting while your partner tries on clothes? Waiting for your kids to finish football/ballet/music?

Do you never want to check stock prices? The weather? Bus times? The scores? The News? What other film that actor was in?

Why also carry a camera? A sat nav? An iPod? A radio? A pen and paper? An alarm clock? A calculator?

Does your feature phone have all the features you need? Can you set it to be in silent mode until a certain time, where upon it turns the sound back on automatically without you having to remember? I have an App for that.

A smartphone is one of those things that you think you don't need, but once you have one you wouldn't be without it.

I agree. When you have a powerful machine in your pocket, why don't you utilize it?

On one hand, I think what important is whether option is given to user. If I forget my smartphone, I will still want my wristband to function as a watch, or to collect my activity level until the storage it out.

On the other hands, low power consumption is crucial in any wearable device. if a more powerful processor is used, I'm afraid optimizing runtime becomes a challenge.

I think it's less about redundant function and more about not having to use your smartphone as a hub for uploading and reviewing. With simple OSes like Tizen and RTOS, wearables won't be capable of the exact same functions as a phone anyhow. The question is, do they need that capability or just a powerful processor that's capable of synthesizing information for a small range of applications.

Also, Samsung is taking strategy decision to not bet on single horse in long run. By developing its own OS, it might be able to put some weightage in mobile software solution. The advantage of TIGEN that caught my attention is the battery life. If samsung would be able to enable longer battery life on wearable devices with software solutions then it will be a big lead over Andriod.